


Hearth and Home (Alternate)

by luvsanime02



Series: Delete Winter [26]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Family Fluff, Gen, Gen Fic, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-29
Updated: 2015-11-29
Packaged: 2018-05-03 22:00:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5308475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luvsanime02/pseuds/luvsanime02
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An alternate (gen) rewrite of Hearth and Home. Levi and Mikasa endure the cold for Eren's sake. After all, it's what family does.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hearth and Home (Alternate)

**Author's Note:**

> As I say in the notes for Melting, The Thaw, and Glowing Embers (the alternate versions), I completely rewrote the ending of Delete Winter by taking out the Mikaereri. I only wrote the ship as a request from a friend, but after discussing with someone else the way this series could have ended, this alternate version wouldn't leave my mind. So, here's a gen version of the last part of this series, Hearth and Home.

**Disclaimer:** I don’t own Shingeki no Kyojin. That honor belongs to Isayama-sensei. I’m making no profit off of this fic.

########

 **Hearth and Home (Alternate)** by luvsanime02

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Levi took a careful sip of his tea. He’d learned from enough of these early morning practices that it was best to wait and let the liquid cool first, instead of quickly gulping it down for the caffeine hit. Luckily, waiting until it wouldn’t burn his mouth didn’t take long when sitting inside an ice rink. Briefly, he considered taking the lid off so it would cool even faster, but decided that he’d rather drink the liquid, not chew on it when it turned into slush.

Letting out a quiet sigh, enjoying the warmth from the cup in his hands, if not the cold slowly numbing his ass, Levi watched as Mikasa and Eren talked quietly together before the practice started. The rest of Eren’s team was huddled around Coach Smith, who looked completely at home out on the ice, and wide awake, which was just unnatural. The man was discussing the maneuvers they were going to practice that morning, forcing the teens around him to pay attention and look alert, even if they were mostly faking it.

Smith’s serious tone didn’t hide the amused look in his eyes one bit. The man seemed to get a certain amount of sadistic glee out of his job, and Levi had no doubt that he was analyzing who was awake and who wasn’t, and was getting ready to motivate them accordingly. A few spills onto the hard ice were usually enough to wake up even the most sluggish among them.

Levi still thought the other man was creepy, but now he also knew Smith was smart, and genuinely enthusiastic about his career, and somehow always seemed to infect the kids with that enthusiasm during each practice, until the team was skating across the ice like a well-oiled machine. It was impressive to see each time, and made Levi very relieved that he could stay where he was and slowly freeze.

The whistle blew, and Eren waved to Levi and said something quick to Mikasa before he joined the team. Levi hoped for the brat’s sake that he’d been listening to the strategies for this morning’s practice.

Mikasa slowly made her way back to Levi, sitting down near him and cradling her own drink in her hands. Though she had a scarf wrapped around her neck and mouth, and mittens on, she looked even colder than Levi felt. Her nose was almost touching her coffee lid.

“You burn yourself and I’m going to laugh,” he informed her flatly. She took his hint and lowered the mug just slightly.

They sat there in silence for a bit, trying futilely to warm up. Despite her coffee, Mikasa was still yawning from time to time, watching Eren’s practice. “How do you drive this early without crashing the car?” she asked.

Levi snorted. “I have no idea,” he informed her honestly. “When the hell do you two start taking driving courses through the school?”

The look she gave him was amused and sympathetic all at once. “Not until next year, and then it’ll be awhile before we can try to get our licenses, and then we’re _still_ supposed to have someone older in the car. Sorry. You’ll just have to continue to freeze.”

Levi sighed, but didn’t bother complaining. Smith now had the kids broken up into two smaller teams, pitting them against each other. Eren stole the puck from another boy, and Mikasa cheered him on, which caused the boy he’d stolen it from to trip over his own feet. Eren laughed. Levi chuckled quietly into his tea, watching Mikasa’s blank expression.

“I didn’t think that would startle anybody,” she admitted, once the playing resumed.

“Don’t worry about it,” Levi said. He had a strong suspicion that the boy’s accident had more to do with Mikasa herself than her shouting. He’d seen that particular boy turn red whenever Mikasa was standing nearby, and had learned from Eren that the kid’s name was Jean. Levi found the whole thing hilarious, mostly because Mikasa and Eren were so oblivious to the boy’s obvious crush.

Mikasa didn’t say anything else, just waited until the practice was over before she stood up and started walking towards Eren. Levi shook his head and followed her. He was a little more awake now, and was even more aware of just how cold it was in here. He couldn’t wait until they got into the car and he could blast the heater on high to start thawing them out some.

Eren’s face was pale from the cold, his nose a bright red, and Levi just hoped the brat wasn’t going to get a cold from all of this practicing in these temperatures. So far, he was good, though. It probably helped that Eren didn’t seem to feel the cold as much as Levi and Mikasa did.

“It looks like you brats are getting better,” he told Eren, when the boy got close enough.

Eren chuckled. “I think I’m learning all the rules, finally.”

That boy Jean snorted as he walked on by, but surprised Levi by casually punching Eren’s shoulder. “You shouldn’t get as many penalties as I figured you would when we first started practicing,” he said, apparently in agreement that Eren was improving.

Eren just rolled his eyes, not looking put out in the slightest. “Whatever, Jean. I bet you’re going to get more than I do during the season.”

Jean opened his mouth as if to respond, but Mikasa seemed to get tired of standing around waiting for Eren to get his skates off, and started dragging him to the bench where his shoes were waiting. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s get out of here before my feet freeze to the floor.”

Eren laughed, and happily went with her, and Levi was treated to the hilarious sight of Jean wilting where he stood before he walked away dejectedly. Shaking his head, Levi said, “I’m going out to get the car started.”

The kids nodded, and Levi left the building with a sigh of relief. He pulled up to meet Mikasa and Eren at the entrance and then drove off, happy to be done with hockey for another morning and trying not to think about coming back the very next day for another practice.

“You brats ready to go home?” he asked, despite all of them knowing that there was no way in hell Levi was driving anywhere else right now. He could still get in some more sleep before he headed off to work, and he planned on doing just that.

He looked in the rearview mirror to see Mikasa and Eren both smiling drowsily, their heads resting against each other’s as they finally warmed back up. “Yeah,” Eren answered for both of them. “We’re ready.”


End file.
